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Researchers in Germany!_Good SC_Explain!

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by gmat_perfect » Fri Jun 18, 2010 3:43 am
Researchers in Germany have unearthed 400,000-year-old wooden spears from what it appears was an ancient lakeshore hunting ground as stunning evidence of human ancestors who systematically hunted big game much earlier than believed.

A. it appears was an ancient lakeshore hunting ground as stunning evidence of human ancestors who

B. it appears had been an ancient lakeshore hunting ground and stunning evidence that human ancestors

C. appears was an ancient lakeshore hunting ground and is stunning evidence that human ancestors

D. appears to be an ancient lakeshore hunting ground, stunning evidence that human ancestors

E. appears that it is an ancient lakeshore hunting ground, stunning evidence of human ancestors who


Please explain every wrong option. Why the wrong options are wrong.
Last edited by gmat_perfect on Fri Jun 18, 2010 5:36 am, edited 1 time in total.
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by kvcpk » Fri Jun 18, 2010 3:47 am
Can you please edit and underline to make it easy for readers..
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by kvcpk » Fri Jun 18, 2010 3:54 am
IMO A

"400,000-year-old wooden spears " was the stunning evidence and not the "lakeshore".

So, "hunting ground and stunning evidence " in B is wrong
"appears was an ancient lakeshore " in C has imroper tense
"stunning evidence that human ancestors " doesnt modify "wooden spears" but instead modifies "lakeshore" in option D
Option E also has same problem as E...

Also, I believe "appears that" in option E is wrong idiom.. I am not sure though..
Last edited by kvcpk on Fri Jun 18, 2010 3:57 am, edited 1 time in total.
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by martin.jonson007 » Fri Jun 18, 2010 3:54 am
IMO

D is correct...!
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by FightWithGMAT » Fri Jun 18, 2010 4:03 am
gmat_perfect wrote:Researchers in Germany have unearthed 400,000-year-old wooden spears from what it appears was an ancient lakeshore hunting ground as stunning evidence of human ancestors who systematically hunted big game much earlier than believed.

A. it appears was an ancient lakeshore hunting ground as stunning evidence of human ancestors who

B. it appears had been an ancient lakeshore hunting ground and stunning evidence that human ancestors

C. appears was an ancient lakeshore hunting ground and is stunning evidence that human ancestors

D. appears to be an ancient lakeshore hunting ground, stunning evidence that human ancestors

E. appears that it is an ancient lakeshore hunting ground, stunning evidence of human ancestors who


Please explain every wrong option. Why the wrong options are wrong.
It is D.
stunning in D is correctly modifying the entire clause (comma + ing).
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by pnk » Sun Jun 20, 2010 8:33 am
gmat_perfect wrote:
Researchers in Germany have unearthed 400,000-year-old wooden spears from what it appears was an ancient lakeshore hunting ground as stunning evidence of human ancestors who systematically hunted big game much earlier than believed.

A. it appears was an ancient lakeshore hunting ground as stunning evidence of human ancestors who (stunning modifies ground)

B. it appears had been an ancient lakeshore hunting ground and stunning evidence that human ancestors (past perfect unnnecessary...no past event present)

C. appears was an ancient lakeshore hunting ground and is stunning evidence that human ancestors (changes meaning. shows ws ancient lakeshore...is stunning - 2 differnet activities - wrong)

D. appears to be an ancient lakeshore hunting ground, stunning evidence that human ancestors

E. appears that it is an ancient lakeshore hunting ground, stunning evidence of human ancestors who (lack clear anecedent of it)


appear to - correct idiom - IMO D
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by maihuna » Fri Sep 02, 2011 12:48 pm
use of relational pronoun who seems to be optional given the ending sentence structure: ancestors systematically... everything else equal A and E should be doubted.

The change of tenses for same finding seems logical (had been...is or have ..in) so cross them.

it has really no role here either as a placeholder or as a pronoun as it lacks proper antecedent. It should have been..it appears that...sort of construction.

I am not too convinces in E saying..evidence of xyz who...

SO among all the awful ones D seems bright.
gmat_perfect wrote:Researchers in Germany have unearthed 400,000-year-old wooden spears from what it appears was an ancient lakeshore hunting ground as stunning evidence of human ancestors who systematically hunted big game much earlier than believed.

A. it appears was an ancient lakeshore hunting ground as stunning evidence of human ancestors who

B. it appears had been an ancient lakeshore hunting ground and stunning evidence that human ancestors

C. appears was an ancient lakeshore hunting ground and is stunning evidence that human ancestors

D. appears to be an ancient lakeshore hunting ground, stunning evidence that human ancestors

E. appears that it is an ancient lakeshore hunting ground, stunning evidence of human ancestors who


Please explain every wrong option. Why the wrong options are wrong.
Charged up again to beat the beast :)
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by ColumbiaVC » Fri Sep 02, 2011 8:54 pm
D
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by champ0007 » Fri Sep 02, 2011 11:08 pm
D

Reason -
Appears to --- Correct Idiom

"it" in many choices is ambiguous, so eliminated such choices
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by [email protected] » Wed Sep 07, 2011 4:17 pm
gmat_perfect wrote:Researchers in Germany have unearthed 400,000-year-old wooden spears from what it appears was an ancient lakeshore hunting ground as stunning evidence of human ancestors who systematically hunted big game much earlier than believed.

A. it appears was an ancient lakeshore hunting ground as stunning evidence of human ancestors who

B. it appears had been an ancient lakeshore hunting ground and stunning evidence that human ancestors

C. appears was an ancient lakeshore hunting ground and is stunning evidence that human ancestors

D. appears to be an ancient lakeshore hunting ground, stunning evidence that human ancestors

E. appears that it is an ancient lakeshore hunting ground, stunning evidence of human ancestors who


Please explain every wrong option. Why the wrong options are wrong.


THE IDIOM IS APPEAR TO. SO I THINK D IS CORRECT. ALSO IT REFERS TO SINGULAR ITEMS BUT HERE SPEARS IS WRITTEN AND NOT SPEAR.
SO D IS CORRECT
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by kdraj » Wed Sep 07, 2011 5:33 pm
IMO D

I would immediately go with the above answer choice because of the idiom "appears to be"

You cannot say
A--->"what it appears was"
B--->"what it appears had"
C--->"what appears was"
E--->"what appears that" (Some people tend to use this in everday normal speech)

So I would straight away go with "what appears to be". Anyone please let me know if my reasoning is right.

Thanks,
Draj
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by k.pankaj.r » Wed Sep 07, 2011 6:12 pm
gmat_perfect wrote:Researchers in Germany have unearthed 400,000-year-old wooden spears from what it appears was an ancient lakeshore hunting ground as stunning evidence of human ancestors who systematically hunted big game much earlier than believed.

A. it appears was an ancient lakeshore hunting ground as stunning evidence of human ancestors who

B. it appears had been an ancient lakeshore hunting ground and stunning evidence that human ancestors

C. appears was an ancient lakeshore hunting ground and is stunning evidence that human ancestors

D. appears to be an ancient lakeshore hunting ground, stunning evidence that human ancestors

E. appears that it is an ancient lakeshore hunting ground, stunning evidence of human ancestors who


Please explain every wrong option. Why the wrong options are wrong.
IMO D because of in correctly placed modifier. unearthing of spears at the ancient hunting ground is the stunning evidence.
the idiom "appears to be" is correct only in D
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by GmatKiss » Thu Sep 08, 2011 8:37 am
+1 for D (use of correct idiom)
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by [email protected] » Thu Dec 22, 2011 11:25 pm
Final solution at one place:

Important: The purpose of this post (and all the other posts by me) is to give a complete solution to all GMAT-Prep Verbal questions at one place. Sometimes students have to wade through dozens of posts to get to the final answer. My posts will give one complete and crisp solution required to arrive at the correct answer by eliminating the wrong one. Some of the content in these posts may have been taken from various other sources (discussion forums).

Researchers in Germany have unearthed 400,000-year-old wooden spears from what it appears was an ancient lakeshore hunting ground as stunning evidence of human ancestors who systematically hunted big game much earlier than believed.
(A) it appears was an ancient lakeshore hunting ground as stunning evidence of human ancestors who
(B) it appears had been an ancient lakeshore hunting ground and is stunning evidence that human ancestors
(C) it appears to have been an ancient lakeshore hunting ground and is stunning evidence that human ancestors
(D) appears to be an ancient lakeshore hunting ground, stunning evidence that human ancestors
(E) appears that it is an ancient lakeshore hunting ground, stunning evidence of human ancestors who

Imagine the sentence:

From what happened yesterday, I have drawn a lesson for life. CORRECT

From what 'it' happened yesterday, I have drawn a lesson for life. WRONG, obviously.

This is a similar construction, so 'it' appears will be wrong. This eliminates A, B, and C.

The use of 'it is' is wrong in E because the entire sentence is a conjecture at best (from available data). 'It is' shows certainty. 'Evidence that' is preferred to 'evidence of' as per the preferences on the GMAT. So E is wrong.

From MGMAT SC Guide:

V-A-N Pattern 2: Prefer a That-Clause (with Verbs) to a Series of Phrases (with Nouns)

Wordy: The hypothesis ABOUT the COMPOSITION OF the universe AS largely dark energy seems strange.

Better: The hypothesis THAT the universe IS largely COMPOSED OF dark energy seems strange.

When you tack a long thought onto a noun, try to put the thought in a That-Clause rather than in a long series of prepositional phrases. A That-Clause starts with the word that and contains a working verb (one that, as is, can be the main verb of a sentence by itself). Is composed is a working verb.

"Idea" nouns, such as hypothesis, idea, or suggestion, lend themselves particularly well to this pattern. Other examples include belief, discovery, evidence, indication, and report. These sorts of nouns are often modified by That-Clauses that contain full sentences:

The BELIEF THAT the Earth is flat is contradicted by EVIDENCE THAT the Earth is round and the DISCOVERY THAT the Earth circles the Sun.

Correct: D
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